


Banana Smoothie

by orphan_account



Series: Collected Tumblr Prompts [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Awkward Conversations, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Exes, M/M, Past Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-13
Updated: 2014-10-13
Packaged: 2018-02-21 00:29:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2448674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'So,' Natasha is saying, swirling sugar into her coffee idly. 'I'm on my way back from Belarus, and we're just getting on the plane and this guy draws a gun—’</p><p>'Shit!'</p><p>'Well it wasn't exactly a surprise,' she continues, but before she can say anything else, Bucky half ducks under the table and swears again.</p><p>'Fuck! No, that's great Nat, but we need to swap seats.' He peeks up over the edge, grabbing for a menu to hide behind. 'Like, now.’</p><p>(Prompt: <b>Exes meeting again after not speaking for years AU</b>)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Banana Smoothie

'So,' Natasha is saying, swirling sugar into her coffee idly. 'I'm on my way back from Belarus, and we're just getting on the plane and this guy draws a _gun_ \--'

'Shit!' 

'Well it wasn't exactly a surprise,' she continues, but before she can say anything else, Bucky half ducks under the table and swears again. 

'Fuck! No, that's great Nat, but we need to swap seats.' He peeks up over the edge, grabbing for a menu to hide behind. 'Like, _now_.'

From behind the table, he can see Natasha twisting in her seat to look around in confusion – and in the mirror on the wall, he can see the guy who just walked through the door. 

It can't be him. Is it him? It _can't_ be him, it makes no sense. 

'Natasha, get up!' he hisses, and she stands up slowly, all casual, and lets them swap seats. Bucky lets out a breath. His back is to the guy who looks _so much like Steve_ now, and he's mostly covered by the high bench of the chair. He's just gotta keep his head down and stay away from reflective surfaces, and he should be good. 

'Who is it?' Natasha asks mildly, apparently unfazed by Bucky's sudden panic, and just pulls the coffee back across the table towards her, swapping it with Bucky's banana smoothie. 'The guys who just walked in?'

Bucky shakes his head. 'Just one of them,' he says quietly, fighting the urge to glance over his shoulder. 'Do you have a compact mirror or something?'

Natasha reaches into her bag, shuffling things around. 'Yeah, somewhere.' 

'I thought he looked like an ex,' Bucky explains, taking the mirror as she slides it across the table. He opens it up, trying to subtly get a look at the guy with Steve's face. 'No, no way. It's not him.' He narrows his eyes, angling the mirror a little more to the left. 'Or, maybe? Shit. I can't tell.'

'Wow,' Natasha drawls. 'Never forget a face, Barnes.'

He glares at her. 'He looks different,' he says defensively. 'Like, at least three heads taller and two full grown men buffer.'

'Is it the blond guy?' she asks, lifting her mug up and smirking around the rim a little. 'The one that looks like he walked right off the front cover of a men's underwear catalog?'

Bucky hums out an agreement, still fiddling with the mirror. 'Yeah, but the guy I dated looked more like, I dunno, he stumbled off the centerfold _Twinks Monthly_ or something. While having an asthma attack.'

'Well _that_ guy has never had an asthma attack in his life. He looks like he runs fifty-k in the morning before he brushes his teeth. And then another twenty-five _while_ he's brushing his teeth. He looks like he runs a lot, is what I'm saying. You know, he's really hot, actually.'

'Oh god, he just did the thing.'

Natasha cocks her head. 'What thing?'

'How he swept his hair a second ago, with the flats of his fingers? _Always_ would do that when he was nervous. Shit, it _is_ him.' Bucky drops the mirror, burying his face in his hands. 'Shit, shit, shit, shit.' 

'Why's he nervous, you wonder?' Natasha asks, stoically ignoring her friend's breakdown. 'Maybe he's on a date. Maybe that guy is his new boyfriend!'

'Yeah, maybe.' Bucky peeks through his fingers. 'Shiiiiiiiit, I need to get outta here, Nat. Get me outta here. Please. Cause a diversion. He's right in front of the door, I'll never get past without him seeing me.'

She rolls her eyes. 'Oh, pull yourself together, James.' She reaches out to pull his hand away from his face. 'What's the big deal? He's just an ex. _I'm_ an ex, too. Just relax, maybe say an awkward hello on the way out.'

'Um, no.' Bucky shakes his head, wrestling with Natasha to get his hand back out of her grip. 'No, nope. Nope. Can't happen. Can't see him. Not today. Not ever.'

'Why?'

Bucky swallows. 'I may have done a really bad thing?' 

'Ah.'

'Yeah.'

'Right.' Natasha lets go of his hand, and Bucky immediately picks up the mirror again, going back to peering at Steve. He was smiling and laughing at something the other guy was saying. _How dare he_. 'What did you do, James?'

'Well, you remember my douchey ex-boyfriend Brock? Who, you know, maybe kind of--'

'Brainwashed you?'

'That's a strong word for it.'

'And yet an accurate one,' Natasha insists, taking a stern sip of coffee. 'Also, you really need to stop saying “douchey” when you mean “abusive”.'

Bucky waves her off. 'Whatever, not the point. That's a therapist conversation, not a brunch conversation.' He moves his prosthetic to hold the smoothie glass for something to do with his hands, with no intention of drinking. 'So, he might have convinced me to break up with Stevie.' Pausing, Bucky looks down at the drink in front of him, not meeting Natasha's eyes. 'By getting me to fake my own death. A little bit.'

Natasha's expression remains blank. 'Ah, that old trick.'

'We ran away to Nebraska together, for a while,' Bucky continues. 'I mean, it wasn't just Steve. I was tryin' ta get away from a whole lotta things. Mum and dad had both died, and school wasn't going well. I wanted to look after Becca, but social services had moved her into a foster home because I was still underage myself. Brock came along and he was just... a way out.'

Natasha nods, understanding. 

Bucky sighs. 'I got Rebecca to call up Steve and I dunno, it was some stupid teenager shit. I'd died in a sudden car accident, but I'd specified in my will or something that I didn't want a funeral. She was only thirteen, she thought it was hilarious for about a day, but I deleted Steve's number from her phone before she could feel guilty about it and get in touch with him to come clean. And then Brock and I just, yeah. Vanished.'

Natasha frowns. 'Just double checking, you _are_ still seeing your therapist, right?'

' _Yes_.'

'Good, just wanted to make sure.' Natasha smiles, a small quirk of the lips. 'Can I just say something, as someone who has faked their own death to get out of relationships more times than I've changed my britta filter?'

'Sure.'

'You need to go over there, right now, and come clean.'

Bucky lets out a bark of laughter, and quickly swears and ducks down again, in case Steve looks over. 'What? Hell no. He'd have a heart attack. Like, literally. He may be buffer than he used to be, but he has like six separate heart conditions.'

'I'll keep my phone ready to call emergency.'

Bucky shakes his head. 'He's on a date.'

'Even better, they'll have something to talk about.'

'No,' Bucky says flatly. 'I'm not doing it. There's gotta be a back entrance. I'm going to make a run for it through the kitchen.'

'No way, you are _not_ getting us banned from my favorite café.'

'Well, we can never come back here anyway, not now that I know he comes here too. Hell, I think I might have to move states again.'

'James,' she says, and lowers her voice deadly seriously. 'Trust me. You will feel better afterward. Ten times lighter.'

Looking up, he meets her eyes and frowns, glancing subtly over his shoulder. Steve is ordering, chatting with the waiter like he always does. It makes Bucky's heart ache a little. 

'I miss him,' he says quietly. 

Natasha smiles. 'So, go over there.'

Bucky bites the inside of his cheek, and climbs out of the bench. 

The walk across the room feels like the walk down death row, and Bucky almost considers giving up and making a dash for it outside. He almost does, in fact, but Steve catches sight of him before he can, and is on his feet in moments, blocking the exit, shock written plain on his face.

Wow. There's so much of him. He can block an exit. 

Wait, does this make _Bucky_ the twink now? 

He mentally slaps himself. _Pull yourself together_.

'Bucky..?' Steve asks, breathlessly taken aback. 

Bucky isn't sure his throat can make sounds. 'Stevie, hey.' He glances around nervously, and makes an uncomfortable gesture. 'So, I'm alive.'

To Bucky's surprise, that makes Steve laugh. 'Yeah, Buck, I know,' he says. 'Becca told me about three days after you ran away.'

Bucky blinks, glances at Steve's date. The guy looks taken aback by the sudden change in events, but is watching calmly, brows furrowed. 

'You... knew?' 

'Of course, Buck,' Steve says, taking an unsteady step forward. Amazingly, he doesn't look angry. He looks almost relieved, a smile tugging on his lips. 'I went to the police. I think I said you'd been kidnapped.'

Bucky trains his eyes on the floor. 'Not that far from the truth.'

'I know,' Steve assures him, and then starts as some other customers try to push past him outside. 'Oh, sorry,' he says to them, and steps closer to Bucky, reaching out to cautiously guide him out of the way, not quite touching him. 'They didn't do much to help. I tried to go looking for you, but I dunno. You were always good at not being found.'

'I was in Nebraska,' Bucky mutters. 

'Ah, yeah, see? One place I didn't look.'

Bucky snorts, and glances up at his ex-boyfriend. He sighs. 'I'm sorry,' he says, shoving his hands in his pockets, slightly more clumsily with the prosthetic. 'I... I mean there's not much I can say. I don't expect you to forgive me, or nothing. I just. I wanted to say sorry. And, you know. I cut him outta my life. And I've been in therapy for a long time. And also I miss you.' Bucky turns, gesturing to Steve's date. 'I mean, not-- I don't wanna interrupt. He's all yours,' he says to the guy, earnestly, then looks back at Steve. 'But I had to tell you.'

Steve is looking down and laughing under his breath. 'Bucky, this is Sam. He's my boss.'

'Oh.' Bucky coughs, looks at Sam. Wonders if Natasha is filming this train wreck on her phone. Probably. 'Uh, sorry, Sam. Crazy ex-boyfriend here. Didn't mean to interrupt the, uh, synergy. Or, webinar. Or whatever. Shit.' He turns back to Steve. 'I didn't just out you to your boss, did I?'

'It's okay, man,' Sam says. 'Chill.'

Steve shakes his head. 'Is that your girlfriend?' he asks Bucky, nodding over towards Natasha. Bucky glances over his shoulder. She does have her phone out, but he doesn't _think_ she's filming. Maybe just taking photos. 

'No,' he replies. 'I mean, ex. As well. We're friends.'

'Good,' Steve says, and even though he's smiling he has this sad look in his eyes when he looks at Bucky that's a bit uncomfortable to have trained on him. He wonders what it's for. There's plenty of things to be sad about, Bucky supposes. The years have shown on him, really. A dark look to his eyes that wasn't there before, a missing limb. That sorta thing.

He tries to think of something to say to escape from the awkward conversation and get away from Steve's pitying gaze, but before he can, Steve speaks again. 

'I missed you too, Buck,' he murmurs. 

'Yeah, well.' Bucky shuffles his feet. 'You've always been crazy.'

'That's true,' Steve agrees with a chuckle. 'Look, I don't-- We should get lunch some time. It'll be, well, _nothing_ like old times. But... I'm okay with that if you are?'

Bucky looks up, taken aback. 'I, yeah. I'm fine with that, if you-- If you'd _want_ to.'

Steve shrugs, smirks. 'Well, Facebook has been suggesting you as someone I might know for a year and a half, it might be nice to prove it right.'


End file.
